Let’s Hope Greenland Gains Independence
Greenland is a unique country with few tourists (apart from watching humpback whales), which is good news for wildlife like caribou and Arctic foxes. A bit like our Isle of Man, this is a self-governing part of another country (in this case, Denmark).
And like Northumberland, the entire northeast of Greenland is a protected National Park, to leave wildlife undisturbed.
80% of Greenland is covered in ice, so few crops grow here. It is mostly in the news due to the massive ice sheet that is already cracking, due to climate change. If melted, it could raise sea levels by around 6 feet worldwide. Just one centimetre of rising seas can cause coastal erosion. of three feet.
There is only one airport (reached from just Iceland or Denmark) and most people travel by boat. And like Finland, its remote location means it has some of the world’s cleanest air and waters.
The super-scary news is that President Trump has now said that he will be prepared to use military action, in order to make Greenland a US territory (presumably because he wants to drill for its oil).
Greenland’s leader Jens-Frederick Nielsen however replied ‘We don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders’.
A recent poll found that 85% of the population (mostly native people) and all five party leaders are in favour of a referendum to become an independent country.
Could Trump Really Take Over Greenland?
Unlikely. It’s not like the days when the USA bought Alaska from Russia. Today there are laws in place to consider wishes of local people.
The only advantages for Greenland would be military bases and finance (things locals are not concerned about), and the right to live/work in the US (again, not interested).
Hopefully this will be a good lesson for a world leader to realise, that sometimes money and power are not the most important things in the world, for some countries and people.
Trump has recently appointed the governor of Louisiana as a volunteer envoy, for Greenland. Many Danes, Greenlanders (and Americans) are upset and incensed. One reader on The Independent’s website wrote:
Everyday I coach two-year olds on the unacceptability of ‘I want that’, usually resulting in children throwing themselves on the floor, and flaying arms and legs. Here we have the leader of the supposed free world, who lacks the very basic emotional literacy required to grasp such a concept!
Worst of it is, he’s getting away with it in many instances. We’ll have Trump towers in very town and village at this rate! When is somebody going to grow a pair and find the guts to give him some ‘time out to think’.
